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UCI Athletics:Traditions 101

To all current and new Anteaters at UCI, there are some school spirit traditions that you may need to familiarize yourself with before you sit in the stands at a UCI home game and cheer on your Anteaters to victory.
With the help of Blake Sasaki, assistant athletic director of marketing and promotions, the New University gives you the 101 on UCI’s traditions.
Possibly, the most popular way of affirming you are cheering for our team and not the other, is to flash the Rip ’em Eaters hand sign.
If you feel inclined to yell or shout by all means don’t hold yourself back; but try and yell, ‘Rip ’em’ as you flash your Anteater sign. It will add more emphasis.
Next on our list is the Big ‘C’ fight song.
‘All UC schools use it,’ Sasaki said. However, Sasaki notes that every school has their own version of the fight song. If you go to one of UCI’s home basketball games, you are bound to hear the cheerleaders rally up the crowd with this song. It is short, sweet and everyone should be able to remember the last line of it: ‘U-C-I, Zot, UCI Zot Fight Fight Fight!’
Everybody should be able to ingrain these three words into their head especially after a game, since they will most likely and hopefully be the only words that come out of your mouth while cheering for your Anteaters.
The eight-clap is also a very popular tradition that is done at the beginning of each game.
For all the new students on campus or others who never knew how to do our clap, you start it with eight claps then you yell ‘U,’ which is followed by three claps then ‘C,’ you clap three more times, yell ‘I,’ clap three more times, then ‘zot,’ and then you finally yell, ‘UCI, zot, fight! fight! Fight!’ which is almost exactly like the end of our fight song.
Now if you see someone with a bright yellow T-shirt on the day of a home game, then you can pretty much bet that he or she is a member of the CIA, which stands for Completely Insane Anteaters.
Torre Chrisholm, associate athletic director of development and marketing, Zack Wallace, assistant director of development, as well as Sasaki were the pioneers of the official Completely Insane Anteaters.
The CIA is a ‘free spirit group and the second largest on the West Coast behind UC Davis’s,’ Sasaki said.
In order to understand how much respect the CIA is gaining, Sasaki said one segment of Fox Sports Net ‘referred to the CIA as the ‘Cameron Crazies of the West.”
This is a compliment to UC Irvine because Duke’s fans are probably some, if not the best college sports fans in the nation.
A new branch of the CIA is the addition of the M-CIA, which stands as a testament to how big the CIA is.
The M-CIA is a modern dance team with both men and women on board. Fans can catch them performing during basketball half-time shows or even during time outs.
The CIA is the largest club on campus and joining it is free and easy. This year the CIA has made it even easier to keep track of its loyal members’ attendance by having fans swipe their UCI ID cards when they enter an event. All members receive a free bright yellow T-shirt to wear for games.
Not only that, but when fans attend other sporting events on campus, they can earn points each time by swiping their ID at the entrance. The more points you accumulate, the more likely you will win some really neat prizes that the CIA has in store this year.
Marketing prizes include Quizno’s sandwiches, Jamba Juice smoothies, Macy’s gift certificates, Fossil watches and one of the bigger prizes this year, a free Princeton Review tutorial course.
The purpose of UCI’s traditions is to get students aware and involved. Our hallmarks are what Sasaki and other UCI supporters have created to make us ‘proud of this school.’
Hopefully this overview will help guide you through UC Irvine’s fight song, eight-clap and the Rip ’em Eaters hand sign. Go ahead, flash ’em the hand sign or chant the fight song, because when it comes down to it, we are all Anteaters.

UC Irvine Fight Song

We are Sons of California
Fighting for the Gold and Blue
Palms of glory we will win
for Alma Mater true
Long Beach State will soon be routed
By our dazzling ‘C’
And when we serpentine,
Their black will turn to green,
In our hour of victory!
U…C…I…Zot…UCI Zot Fight Fight Fight

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